Karaoke Forums

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This is the home theatre system that I have right now. Could I get better sound for my karaoke system if I bought some decent speakers and hooked them up on the main left and right channels. My neighbor bought some BMB 250v's hooked them up to a surround sound receiver and they sound pretty good. Looking at the specs on my receiver it says 100 watts per channel max. Is there speakers that would sound decent with this amount of power?
Thanks, Mark

I'm no speaker expert but it seems that PA systems or karaoke speakers are more powerful than home theater speakers.  I was quite surprised when I did my research.  (I've seen karaoke speakers online that are 300+ watts per channel)
Again, I'm no expert that I recently saw a Denon receiver online and it was 170 watts per channel.  You will probably have to use a dedicated amp for karaoke to match your speakers.  At least in my case, my karaoke speakers have a different ohm rating than my home theater receiver.  I'm using a Yamaha receiver and Mirage speakers for movies and a SoundTech amp and SoundTech speakers for karaoke.  My budget didn't allow for a Yamaha PA system, that's why I bought the SoundTech.  At least I felt like I'd get my moneys worth with the SoundTech.

Oh yeah, I have a Yamaha 5.1 receiver but bought a Denon 7.1 a while ago but took the Denon back.  The Denon was an impulse buy and I had no business buying it.  I didn't like the Denon setup menu anyway.  If my Yamaha 5.1 ever dies, I'll just purchase a Yamaha 7.1 instead.  By the time I purchase anohther 7.1 receiver, they'll be dirt cheap.

By the way, do you frequent www.avsforum.com and www.hometheaterforum.com?
I think www.avsforum.com is the best home theater forum on the net.

Home theater speakers and PA speakers are TOTALLY different animals and ARE NOT compatable.

If you want to move into the realm of PA speakers, you need to have a PA amp and mixer (or combo). Your home theater receiver is not designed to run these speakers and you will damage all of the equipment if you try.

If your buddy hooked up those BMBs to his home theater receiver (it is technically possible to do, but would take alot of adapters or splicing of wires), then he is flirting with frying all of his components and his speakers at any second. I would assume that he has a PA amp and mixer or mixing amp, and didn't splice PA wires and stuff them into a HT receiver.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I never would have thought that home theater receivers/speakers are wimps compared to karaoke amps/speakers.
I think the highest watts I've found for a home theater receiver per channel is 170 watts but that receiver is $6000!

Yeah but you got to consider that most home theater systems are trying to produce the MOST accurate sound - especially at that price.  You can buy a pro PA amp that pushes 1000 watts per channel for around $1000.  Home theater & pro audio are completely different animals!

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Lonman,

You just made me remember something.
I hate to use this dirty word, but...Vocopro has speakers that they claim are for home theater and karaoke use.  Vocopro would probably recommend these speakers for use with their amp versus a home theater amp.

http://vocopro.com/p_kvs.html#PIANO-5

Quote from Vocopro's website:
"Usually, Traditional Home Theatre speakers pose one problem for Karaoke vocals: Blowing tweeters with loud vocals or when microphone feedback occurs. We solved that problem by adding a Tweeter Protection Circuit to increase the endurance of our tweeters. Since the PIANO-5 speakers were designed for both Home Theatre AND Karaoke, the mid range of this system is perfectly tuned for live vocals while delivering high-fidelity surround sound. So take home the VocoPro PIANO-5 speaker system and experience the best of both worlds! "

The more that I read here the more I am thinking of just getting a smaller PA type of setup.

Home theatre system speakers are designed for "high Fidelity", they are more sensitive than most PA cabs and designed for different purposes than live vocals. PA speakers are designed for the higher output and handling of more power.  For live applications the recommendation is PA cabs and head.  Doesn't need to be elaborate.

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I wouldn't recommend VP products to my worst competition.

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Lonman what would you reccomend for a smaller setup? Would a small Carvin PA system be decent enough? Could you reccomend some other possibilities?

Thanks for the help everyone!
Mark

I agree with you, that's why I said dirty word.
I never would have known Vocopro was crap if it wasn't for this forum.
Check this out.
The first karaoke party that I went to had a standalone all in one Vocopro player.  This was at someone's house.
You know, since the discs didn't skip and sounded ok, I might have bought one of the Vocopro's.
That was before I knew about this forum though.

Depending on the size of venue and the equipment you might already own. If you have a non-powered mixer then I'd go for a pair of powered speakers, JBL Eon 10 , Eon 12 or Eon 15.

More expensive alternatives are Mackie SRM350 or SRM450 but these are loadsa cash  :shock:  

Alternatively these are all available non-powered. RCF also do some nice powered and non-powered speakers.

GH

JBL doesn't make an EON12.  The Mackie SRM350 (195 watts) & JBL EON10 (175 watts) are comparatively the same price.  The power difference isn't much so there really isn't any advantage over either except what sounds better to your ears.  The SRM 450 & JBL EON15G2 are also about the same price.  The EON15 (non-g2) aren't in the same power league as the G2 or SRM450, so they are a little less expensive.  The EON15 only pushes 180 watts total, the EON15G2 series & SRM450 both push 400 watts total.  Effectively doubling the efficiency & headroom basically meaning cleaner sound at same listening levels.

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I think there is a misconception here about home systems. I am not saying that home systems are better than PA systems for Karaoke but the misconception that home system only carries 100-200 watts per channel is just not true. While it's true that most consumer level receivers will provide 100 - 200 watts per channel type of power, there are higher end systems that will deliver over 1000 watts per channel with very little distortion and absolute highest sound quality. They are not built for using in mobile or commercial purposes but they do sound great and have plenty of power. It's just that I would have to sell my house  to afford one of those systems.  LOL

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Seize the day and SING!!!

But the home receivers/amps that put out that higher power cleanly also cost an arm and a leg and aren't designed for live vocals still.

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Lonman, I leave it to your experience on this but I am not 100% certain that I agree with you on this . As for amps, from engineering point of view, is a very simple device. It takes the signal that comes in and amplifies it to higher power (i.e. more amperage most likely since voltage is fairly constant between devices). If you take professional amps designed for "vocals" and high end amps for home, the design similarity is uncanny. It's what you put in to the amp that decides the "vocal" quality of the signal. Amp is an amp. Most of the high end amps are separated from tuner/pre-amp for that reason, to give more flexibility on it's input.

So,  I guess technically receivers you can say are not built for vocal usage, but amps are amps, I am pretty certain it's not much different from professional system to home system.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

I may give you that, but an amp designed for home usage (audiophile) that produces in the 1000 watt range is still going to cost 3-5 times or more than a standard PA amp pushing in the same range.

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Yep, I agree, thus my selling my house to afford one comment.  :D

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Seize the day and SING!!!